Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site

The Albanese government blew its shot at setting a historic new unemployment target

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, September 26, 2023

A clearly ambitious statement would have specified a target for unemployment, ideally one that was a bit of a stretch.

Key Points: 
  • A clearly ambitious statement would have specified a target for unemployment, ideally one that was a bit of a stretch.
  • Released at a time when unemployment was almost 10%, it specified a target unemployment rate of 5% – an ambition that served as a beacon for decades.
  • Yet the Albanese government has passed up a historic opportunity to say how much less, which it could have done by setting its own target.

Setting our sights below 5%

    • That means our unemployment target ought to be somewhere between zero and 5%.
    • There will always be people out of work while they are moving between jobs, what the white paper calls “frictional” unemployment.
    • I get that we need, in the words of the white paper, “a higher level of ambition than is implied by statistical measures”.

What gets measured gets done

    • If a target isn’t specific, it isn’t a target at all (or at best it’s a fuzzy target).
    • That means it’s less likely to be aimed at and less likely to be hit.
    • But neither could make any boast about hitting the employment target – because there wasn’t one.

How failing to set a target costs jobs

    • Read more:
      The RBA's failure to cut rates faster may have cost 270,000 jobs

      Lowe wasn’t held to account for the extra unemployed in the same way as he is being held to account for his performance on inflation.

    • Because he was never actually given an unemployment target.
    • I am quite prepared to acknowledge that other measures of employment matter, underemployment among them.
    • As employers find it hard to hire new workers, they get existing workers to put in more hours.

Our unemployment rate is a proxy for what matters

    • This makes the unemployment rate just about the perfect proxy for everything else about the labour market that matters, and just about the perfect number to target.
    • Even that would have been less “ambitious” than Keating choosing 5%, when the rate was twice as high.
    • Treasurer Chalmers says the government didn’t set a target because apparently the unemployment rate doesn’t capture “the full extent of spare capacity in our economy or the full potential of our workforce”.
    • Chalmers is about to update the Reserve Bank’s statement of expectations, the one that until now hasn’t included a target for unemployment.

1 in 5 Australian workers are either underemployed or out of work: white paper

Retrieved on: 
Monday, September 25, 2023

Today’s employment white paper has adopted the broadest-ever definition of what “full employment” means for Australia.

Key Points: 
  • Today’s employment white paper has adopted the broadest-ever definition of what “full employment” means for Australia.
  • The new paper says closer to 2.8 million Australians are either underemployed or out of work – equivalent to one-fifth of the current workforce.
  • The white paper still cautions that “full employment” does not mean zero unemployment.

Underemployment and unemployment approach 2.8 million

    • While 539,700 Australians are unemployed, there are another 1 million who are employed but want to work more.
    • And there are another 1.3 million “potential workers” who are interested in working, but not currently actively looking.
    • This lifts the total number of Australians who are in some way unemployed to 2.8 million, according to the white paper.

Employment white papers date back to WWII

    • This isn’t the first Australian government employment white paper.
    • That 1945 white paper was inspired by the British white paper released in 1944, which set out an ambitious plan to carry forward the high employment achieved during wartime into peacetime.

No specific target for our unemployment rate

    • The 1965 Vernon Report on the economy was more optimistic, defining full employment as an unemployment rate of 1 to 1.5%.
    • The Keating government’s Working Nation paper – released in 1994 when unemployment was almost 10% – adopted a target of 5% by 2000.
    • The words, but not the numbers, in today’s employment white paper are consistent with an unemployment rate of 4% or lower.

Few ideas for lifting productivity

    • The white paper identifies labour productivity (output per hour worked) as crucial to increasing the purchasing power of wages, yet details few ideas for increasing it.
    • Labour productivity has slowed over recent decades, and in recent years has actually fallen.
    • Declining labour productivity is also likely to reflect the gradual shift from manufacturing to services.
    • Read more:
      Government's employment white paper commits to jobs for all who want them – and help to get them

      But weak productivity probably also reflects other things.

Goodwill® Announces Hiring Of New Chief Mission Officer

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, September 28, 2021

ROCKVILLE, Md., Sept. 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --Goodwill Industries International (GII), the leading workforce development provider in North America, is excited to announce the hiring of Martin Scaglione as the organization's new chief mission officer.

Key Points: 
  • ROCKVILLE, Md., Sept. 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --Goodwill Industries International (GII), the leading workforce development provider in North America, is excited to announce the hiring of Martin Scaglione as the organization's new chief mission officer.
  • Scaglione's experience in building strategic partnerships and leading organizations through transformation will help advance the Goodwill mission of ensuring people reach their full potential through the power of work.
  • As chief mission officer, Scaglione will work in partnership with local Goodwill leaders to support their efforts to drive outcomes in the communities they serve.
  • For more information or to find a Goodwill location near you, visit goodwill.org, or call (800) GOODWILL.

Cost is the Biggest Barrier to Post-Secondary Education; "Free College" Would Have the Biggest Impact On Students Completing/Returning to School, According to Cengage Group Report

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, September 15, 2021

"While 'free college' ranked high as having the biggest impact on students accessing and continuing their education, flexibility to take courses online was the second biggest factor.

Key Points: 
  • "While 'free college' ranked high as having the biggest impact on students accessing and continuing their education, flexibility to take courses online was the second biggest factor.
  • Four-year college students are more likely to say they enrolled to expand their social and/or professional networks than students at two-year or technical colleges.
  • Cost is the biggest education barrier for current, future and former students.
  • "Free college" would have the biggest impact on students finishing or returning to post-secondary education.